


No Control

by RainySteve



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Children of the Big Three (Percy Jackson), F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 06:37:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16676458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainySteve/pseuds/RainySteve
Summary: Thalia is tasked with teaching the other Big Three kids about their powers, but there seem to be other motives besides teaching the heroes control





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did this for the pjobigbang and my betas were sanependo and strugglinginthedatabase on tumblr. nighowlagainsttheworld also did some art for it in there

Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis, made her way quietly towards the Big House of Camp Half-Blood where Chiron was waiting for her. The old centaur had chosen his human form for their meeting and was seating by the fire when she walked in, a blanket covering his fake human legs. His smile was warm but his eyes told her he was all business today. “So glad you could make it.” he told her, “Please, have a seat.” Thalia did as she was told, anxious to know what this whole meeting was about. “Were you surprised to get my Iris message?”

Thalia and Chiron had always kept good connection with each other, but it was mainly due to their links to the Hunters and the Campers respectively. “Yes.”

“It’s nothing bad,” he reassured her. After a pause he added, “Annabeth is fine.”

Thalia eased a little, but -as always- was uncomfortable by how easily Chiron could read her.

“I need a favor, one that might include you donating some of your time to the camp.” Chiron could tell that the idea didn’t particularly settle with Thalia. “I’m asking now because I know Artemis has given your hunters a bit of a break at the moment. Not that you’re not still busy.” He added the last part to appeal to her pride, which he knew resembled the one of another certain demigoddess, but it just made Thalia even more suspicious.

“What is it?”

“I want you to teach.”

Thalia allowed herself a small chuckle. She always felt like she had to be extra professional around the old centaur. “Teach  _what_  exactly? I know you have no shortage of great fighters. Unless something’s happened…”

“Nothing’s happened, my dear child, and you are right we have no shortage of great fighters that can teach how to throw a javelin or archery. But we both known that for some those are not their only weapons.”

Thalia started to get an idea of what Chiron was leading up to and couldn’t help but feel like he was over-estimating her. “Chiron, I…”

“You’re the eldest-”

“Well technically Hazel is.”

“You’ve been managing your powers for longer.”

She thought of Jason and how he flew through the skies. She thought of Percy’s surprise at her fear of heights and his promise to keep it a secret. “That doesn’t mean anything, not with us.”

Chiron leveled her with his dark eyes. She was once again reminded of just how old he actually was. With a jolt of surprise she realized that one day  _she_  might look like that, untouched by time but carrying the weight of it nonetheless. “You’ve grown more than you could think, Thalia. You understand things I don’t think they do yet. You can help them.”

Thalia suddenly felt very nervous and very small, which was embarrassing. She  _was_  the eldest. They listened to her, right? “I don’t know-”

“At least try it, Thalia. That’s all I ask. You won't be alone. I'll try to give you pointers every once in awhile.”

She took a long breath, not daring to meet his eyes again.  Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't think of any reason to deny him. “Okay.”

***********

I hate mornings. There’s no reason that any sane person should wake up before nine a.m. When my alarm blared fifteen minutes ago, at  _6:45_ , I was in the middle of a perfect dream about picnics and Annabeth’s tan legs, a rare novelty nowadays. It'd probably been the first good night’s sleep I've had in weeks. I don’t see why I had to trade that for the painful trek to Zeus’ Fist. I especially don’t get why I wasn’t even told the details of this ridiculous meeting.

I’m still dwelling on self pity when Nico sulkily appears next to me. I’ve gotten more used to his silent walk and I’m barely fazed. He grunts an incoherent ‘good morning’ and I nod back. In many ways Nico and I are polar opposites, but we both agree in our hatred of mornings. He looks like he got out of bed and walked straight to the clearing without really stopping but to maybe brush his teeth, which is probably exactly what he did. It’s what I did, anyways. Which is why Hazel, fresh faced and cheery as ever, looks extremely out of place between us. “Morning!”

I force a smile for her because it's impossible not to. “Hi, how's Frank?” Hazel has stopped by often enough since the war ended, but I haven't seen Frank in a while.

“Busy. He says hi.”

“Do  _you_  know what all of this is about?” Asks Nico.

I tell him that I was just about to ask them the same question. I gathered it was probably a head counselor meeting but Annabeth didn't know anything about it when I told her last night and those are alway held in the rec room.

“Well it must be important because Chiron called Jason too.” Adds Hazel.

“What?”

“Yeah, Piper told us yesterday that Chiron called Jason late last night. Told him to come in as soon as possible. He should be here soon actually.”

I'm suddenly wide awake. Chiron called Jason, both Nico  _and_  Hazel, and me to a meeting in the woods? I exchange a glance with Nico. “Is Thalia here?”

“Jason’s sister?”

“I don't know,” answers Nico, “I hope not.”

We both know that if she is, it means a quest. Big Three children are not gathered all at the same time at random. Last time we were we had to follow a magical flower around the Underworld and I ended up wiping a Titan’s memory away. Long story.

We walk in silence the rest of the way. Hazel keeps looking at me and I can hear her whisper something to Nico but I don't pay attention to what they're saying. I'm trying to keep my temper in check, to convince myself that Chiron doesn't actually expect me to go on some ridiculous quest. Not now.

I walk without thinking, letting my feet lead me down the familiar path and subconsciously following the tug of the lake. When we finally get there, Chiron is talking with  none other than Thalia Grace, in all her punk glory. I dig my nails into my palm and curse.

“Nice to see you too, Percy.” I open my mouth to apologize but she waves it away. She understands. “Relax,” she tells me, “it's not what you think. We’ll explain once Jason gets here.”

She is in no hurry and there's a warm smile, or at least Thalia’s version of a warm smile, on her face as Nico officially introduces her to Hazel. Thalia wants to know everything about her experience with the Amazons and both girls start talking excitedly. I'm still not fully at ease, but at least it isn't a quest.

I wish Jason would hurry up already.

“There you are, Jason my boy!” Chiron finally calls ten minutes later as Jason jogs towards our small group. He looks as confused as I feel.

“Can you tell us what's going on now?” I ask. I add  _please_  after I realize how blunt I sounded. This is Chiron after all.

It's Thalia who answers, though. For the first time I notice that she actually seems a bit nervous. Only someone that knows her well could tell since her expression is as hard and as fierce as ever, but I notice how she fidgets with her bracelet. “Well, Chiron called me a few days ago to express his… _concern_  towards a particular aspect of… us.”

“By ‘us’ you mean Big Three kids, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” says Nico, arms crossed, “what about us?”

Thalia looks really uncomfortable which half amuses me and half worries me. “Well…” She looks at Chiron for help.

“You're powerful.” He states.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Water is wet.”

I stifle a chuckle but elbow him anyways. “What Nico means is that you've always known this. What’s ‘concerning’ you now exactly?”

“What if you blow up another volcano?”

I'm immediately taken aback with Thalia’s comment. “That was  _one_  time!”

“What if Jason causes a tornado?”

“What are you talking about?” It seems like the thought never even occurred to her brother.

“What if Nico brings back a dead person he can't control?”

“What's happening?”

Jason looks from his sister to me, puzzled. Nico looks honestly offended. And Hazel seems to actually be considering what Thalia is saying. “Chiron,” this conversation is getting us nowhere, “ _what's_  going on?”

“I've asked Thalia to come and teach you control over your powers.” I don't bother hiding my snort of laughter, but Chiron ignores me. “She's the eldest of the current Big Three children as well as an experienced hero. I can think of no one better for the job.”

An old wave of jealousy comes flooding back, the exact same feeling I had all those years ago after I realized I wasn't going on the quest to save Annabeth from Atlas. I push it aside now though and process what Chiron is saying. Does he think we’re out of control? I look at Jason who is practically the poster boy for control, at Hazel who has shown incredible precision when we've needed it the most. Even Nico has managed to always pleasantly surprise with his power, each time they've randomly manifested they've pretty much saved my life.

Does he think  _I’m_  out of control?

_What if you blow up another volcano?_

“What exactly would we be doing?” Hazel is pretty much the only one that has accepted the idea right away.

Thalia has gone back to looking uncomfortable but I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for her. If I remember correctly, she was the one that lost control and hit  _me_  with lightning last time we were here. Granted, I almost dumped the lake on her, but that was a conscious decision.

“I haven't decided yet. I think we should learn what triggers each one of us first.”

Anger. Panic. Helplessness. We all know what makes our powers surface.

Jason, being Jason, back-tracks a little. We need to sort some things out before we get to that point, he tells Thalia. He is pretty busy in New Rome at the moment, what with  just barely being named Pontifex a few days ago, and Thalia has the Hunters. Not to mention the fact that I need to graduate high school and I'm already a semester behind. I was hoping to use my new free time to catch up on homework (Gross, school work over the summer. Thanks Hera).

“For now,” Thalia assures Jason, “we can meet for a couple of hours during the morning. I'm sure Reyna and Frank can handle the camp while we figure out the schedule. The Hunters will be staying here for a couple of days too.”

Thalia ignores the look I give her. Hunters and campers don't exactly hate each other but things get tense fast, and she knows it. Is Artemis okay with her hunters taking a break for the sake of Thalia teaching a class that's supposed to be  _recreational_? It doesn't seem like her at all.

“Chiron suggest we should start straight away, so we’re meeting back here tomorrow at the same time.”

None of us say anything for a while. We’re all waiting to rush off and tell someone about this ordeal. It's Nico who breaks the silence by stating “It’s settled then” and proceeds to walk away. Hazel waves sheepishly at me and Jason, tells Thalia it was nice to meet her, and follows her brother out of the clearing.

I know Thalia and Jason haven't seen each other in a while and I'm itching to find Annabeth and Grover, so I quickly excuse myself too. “I'll see you tomorrow then.”

I'm walking away when I hear Thalia. “Wait!” She calls out. I turn on my heel, certain she’ll make fun of my hair or tell me my fly is down or something. “Just give it a shot, okay? Just… try.”

I don't know how to answer. Her face is barely guarded and, even though it hasn't aged in years and I've started to look older than her, for the first time I sense how much younger I am. “Okay.” Whatever is  _actually_  going on here, she's noticed it too.

 

 

 

By the time I leave the clearing most campers are probably done with breakfast and are heading to their daily activities. I myself have a sword-fighting class to teach in half an hour, according to my watch. Nevertheless I head to the Dining Pavilion and I’m not surprised to find Annabeth  waiting for me in the Poseidon table. She doesn’t say anything as I slide in beside her. I’m not going to fake enthusiasm with her.

“What was it about?” Annabeth finally asks.

I tell her, forcing any sort of resentment towards Thalia out of my voice since I know she’ll defend her (and I know she’ll be right). I’m acting childish by getting angry at Thalia, but I’m choosing to divert my anxiety towards our old jealous feuds. When I’m done explaining she tries, and fails, to look sheepish, not meeting my eyes. I know what she’s going to say.

“Honestly,” Annabeth starts, “I think it’s a great idea. And I know you think Thalia-”

“It’s not that.” I can’t stop thinking about the look in her eyes. I agree with Chiron. She  _is_  the best person for the job (of course I’ll never admit it out loud but I know it anyways), but Chiron had plenty of chances to do this in the past. It doesn't make sense to do it now. “It’s not about Thalia.” I know that if I think about it too hard I'll realize something I don't like. Suddenly, I don’t feel like talking about it anymore.

Annabeth notices my change of heart and drops any sort of argument about Thalia I know she’s tempted to start. “When’s the first meeting?”

“Tomorrow.”

**************

“-he was just acting really weird.” Hazel finishes. She couldn’t possibly imagine why a class like this might bother Percy so much, even I’m guessing. But I’ve got a pretty good idea.

“He’s got his reasons, Hazel.”

“Which are?” She is concerned for him, but prying is the last thing he probably wants. She stops and pulls me aside so that we're facing each other. “Should I know something? About… us?”

Maybe she’s not only concerned about Percy. “What do you mean?”

“…What happens to our powers as we get older?”

I haven’t forgotten how Hazel died. People tend to forget that she’s a powerful demigod, but I don’t. She doesn’t either apparently. “I don’t know.”

“Why would Chiron be so concerned about us learning control now then? Why not when Percy was younger? Or when he found out who our father was?”

The timing seems strange to me as well, but it could be a number of things or nothing but a coincidence. “I don’t know, Hazel.” I try to reassure her even though her questions have made me even more suspicious. “It’ll be fine.”

“Nico,” she pulls me to a full stop this time, just a few feet away from the dining pavilion, “tell me what you  _really_  think.”

I sigh. “I think this is definitely weird and I don't buy Chiron’s excuse for it. I also think that maybe we’re all overreacting because we’re still on edge from the war.”

She looks a little more relieved, grateful even that I'm being honest with her. “Okay.”

******

Piper greets me with a dazzling smile as she open the door to her cabin. “How was it?”

I walk towards her, aware that Lacy, along with another one of her sisters, is observing us from the corner of the room. “Fine,” I say, my voice clearly guarded. Piper casts a glance towards her sisters and a few seconds later I hear them shuffle out of her cabin. Only when I hear the door close behind them do I bend down to kiss her. “Thalia was there.” She raises an eyebrow at that. “And Nico and Hazel, and Percy.”

She completely pulls away now. “What?”

“Thalia is going to teach us how to ‘control our powers’ apparently.” I see her physically relax at the knowledge of this not being about a quest.“She didn’t seem too excited about it.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know she seemed… nervous.” Piper gives me a look. We’re both thinking the same thing:  _Thalia doesn’t get nervous_. “And Percy wasn’t too happy about it either. Thalia told me it was just how they got along but…”

“But they’re friends right? She went looking for him when he disappeared.”

I haven’t forgotten the jealousy I felt towards Percy after seeing how worried my sister was over him. “It didn’t seem like they  _hated_  each other or anything. Plus it wasn’t just him. Nico wasn’t thrilled about the idea either.”

“They’re probably nervous. You guys are really… powerful.”

“So are you,” I argue, “you literally lulled a goddess to speak with you voice!” She looks like she wants to argue but I continue. “I mean, Katie Gardner can grow plants at will. Kayla con manipulate sunlight. Frank can turn into pretty much anything.”

Piper’s eyes are steady. “Yeah but not like you guys. I can’t cause a natural disaster.”

I asked Thalia about Percy making a volcano explode after everyone else left. Apparently he caused an earthquake underneath Mt. St. Helens when he was fifteen and ended up waking the giant that lived underneath it. I remember hearing about it on the news too. People were hurt, half a million had to be evacuated. That was almost two years ago. I know he’s only gotten more powerful since then. It makes sense Chiron would want us to know how to reign in our power better, but still...

We sit side by side on her bed. She grabs my hand. “I don’t think you guys have to worry about anything. Maybe Chiron had been thinking about it for a while and wanted to try it out with a smaller group first, the hardest group, before making an actual activity at camp.”

She doesn't sound too confident. “Why bring in Thalia then? She can't stay here and teach.”

“Maybe Chiron wants her to train you guys so eventually  _you_  teach-”

“Piper.”

She sighs. “I know. Something's definitely up.”

She starts chewing on her lip, finally giving up the look of fake enthusiasm she greeted me with. I immediately feel guilty about weighing her down with my own worries. She's got enough on her plate. She might not show it, but Leo’s death is more present than ever. It's only been a few weeks after all.

“Have you been talking with Nico again?” She immediately turns away and attempts to hide how her hands shake as she makes her bed, but I notice. She's been pestering Nico ever since the final fight with Gaea. She won't accept Leo is dead until he confirms it. I wish he just would, because without it it's hard to not hope he's still out there, but Nico downright refuses. A few days ago he admitted to me that it was because he simply couldn't find him. He seemed a little embarrassed, but I understood why he preferred not telling anyone else. I haven't even told Piper. “Pipes, I think you should-”

“I should what?!”

“Piper.”

“Forget about him?! Is that what you want?! Because no one else seems to mind-” Whatever she was going to say next gets caught in the sobs that suddenly rack her body. I rush forwards to her and wrap my arms around her. What  _was_  I going to say? I don't even know. I just wish she wasn't so miserable all the time now. I wish I had Leo back.

I kiss her forehead and try to soothe her by rubbing circles down her back, but her cries cut through me, and suddenly it's very hard to keep my own composure. I haven't really let myself fully embrace it all. Somehow I've managed to trick my mind into thinking that Leo is just away, that any day now he’ll descend onto camp atop Festus and apologize for taking so long. But every day he hasn't.

“I think about him every day too, Piper,” I whisper by her ear, embarrassed by how my voice cracks, “I don't know what to do. I just- I can't see you like this.”

She looks up from where she buried her face in my chest. I can't meet her gaze; I'm properly crying now. I curse myself for blubbering like a child. She wipes my tears away with the back of her hand and gently pulls my face to meet hers. When I look into her beautiful, puffy red eyes I lose it. I'm sobbing almost as bad as she was just a few seconds ago. She takes my glasses off and takes my face in her hands before hugging me tightly to her.

I think we're finally mourning Leo.

“I can't just accept he's gone, Jason.” I can't either, it's as if my whole being simply rejects the mere possibility.

I manage to get a grip on myself after a couple minutes. I pull away from Piper slightly to wipe away my tears. “Sorry. I'm ..sorry. I'm a mess.”

“Don't be,” she tells me, not bothering with her own tears, “we’re both a mess. We have a right to be.”

With a huff I pluck down on her bed. My thoughts return to the meeting this morning, but they're half-hearted. The significance of whatever might be going on there seems to have diminished. Piper sits beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. We stay like that for a while. I can still hear her crying beside me.

“Hey,” she calls in an attempt to lighten the mood, “I've been meaning to ask you. And I get if you don't want to, or want to stay at the camps. It makes more sense-”

“What's up, Pipes?”

Her eyes are still puffy from crying and her hair is sticking up at random places, clearly she was just getting ready when I walked in because she's also still in her pajamas. Being head counsellor she gets to be the last one up (or at least that's her interpretation of the title). She still looks amazing to me though. Somehow it seems very intimate to see someone like this, which is new for me but I love it anyways. I realize I probably look like a wreck too.

She plays with the peeling nail polish on her thumb before answering. “I want you to go to school with me in L.A.”

I wasn't expecting that at all. I hadn't really thought past this summer that much. I didn't know she wanted to go back to mortal school. “Actually,” a slightly guilty look crosses her face, “I kind of already registered both us.”

“Oh.”

“I know I should've definitely told you first! But I was on the phone and I dunno I just kind of blurted it out!”

“It's...yeah. I mean I just didn't know you wanted to go back to L.A is all.”

She runs a hand through her face. “Yeah. I figured I should probably spend some time with my Dad, y'know. Sit him down and explain everything.” She takes my hand. “But I really don't want to be away from you now.”

“Ok.” I just blurt it out.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah.” She smiles at me and I smile back until I realize something. “Wait! Does this mean I'll stay with you and your Dad? In the same house?!”

She laughs at me, the morning’s meeting completely forgotten.

********

Hazel convinced me to get to the clearing earlier. Thalia is already here. She greets us both with a smile. Hazel and I are armed with our swords but Thalia doesn’t have any weapons out. I know her bow and arrow will appear if she needs them and she has her Aegis bracelet on, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll be using any weapons today.

A few minutes later Jason walks in. He’s right on time, not a minute before and not a minute after, which I find annoying but I still wave back at him. He hugs Thalia and looks politely curious, but I can tell that some of our trepidation has made its way to him.

Percy is five minutes late. It doesn’t look like he overslept.

“Okay,” Thalia starts, throwing Percy the stink eye which he happily ignores, “I thought we’d do something fun.”

“Your version of fun usually isn’t that fun,” I point out. She waves me away but we all seem to agree.

“Normal training session,  _but_  no weapons allowed.”

“So a completely abnormal training session?” Percy mumbles.

She throws her bracelet to the ground along with about a dozen other weapons. I make a mental note to never sneak up on her. Once she’s done, she looks at the group expectantly. Jason throws his coin in, Hazel her spatha. I cave in and throw my own sword in. Only Percy is left.

“It reappears in my pocket”,  he explains.

“What about the watch?” Thalia asks, pointing at the shield Tyson disguised as a watch. He rolls his eyes but throws it into the pile anyways. She makes him promise not to use the sword. “Alright then.” There’s a scary grin on her face as she rubs her hands together, sparks crackling off her knuckles. “Let’s go.”

 

 

Thalia decides to pair us off like a “normal training session” but takes a different approach to what I would've personally done. Where I would've grouped her, Jason, and Percy together and paired Hazel with me, she decides to pair Hazel with Percy and me with Jason. “I'll take it easy on you today and observe,” she tells us. Percy raises an eyebrow at me as if to say  _Not what I expected, how about you?_  I shrug back and face Jason. We're both pretty stumped as to what we're supposed to do. If anything this is making me realize how much I rely on a sword. Percy and Hazel seem to be playing a weird game of tag where Hazel lunges towards him and Percy side steps her.

Jason, ever the good student, takes a page out of Hazel’s book and lunges. I'm not fast enough and he manages to catch my wrist. I'm about to swing at him with my free hand when I remember that the whole point of this is to use our powers.  _What the hell?_  I stomp the ground and a large crevice appears at Jason’s feet, not much unlike the one I called up all those years ago to save Percy and Annabeth from that skeleton warrior. They little souvenir still adorns the dining pavilion to this day.

Jason is forced to step back but doesn't let go of me. He's about to pull me down with him when I feel the wind pick up, making him regain his balance. This is starting to look more like hand-to-hand combat than anything else and I'm pretty sure Jason can beat me at that no sweat, but we're both trying to do what Thalia wants to see. I can tell he, like me, is going through his list of tricks.

I slowly call for the dead to rise out of the crevice I created, reaching out with my mind. Jason concentrates on picking up the wind so we only grapple a little, our focus elsewhere. I can start to see a skeletal hand make its way out when suddenly Thalia tells us to stop. We all immediately do. I realize that the strong breeze was not only due to Jason, but Percy had managed to create a smaller, weaker version of the hurricane that usually engulfs him in a fight. He's also bleeding from a cut above his eye. Hazel looks guilty and keeps apologizing. My guess is she chucked some sort of precious metal nugget at his head. I almost laugh but then I see Thalia’s face.

“That was hard to watch.” It was also hard on us. We, except maybe Hazel, are breathing hard. Usually I'm pumped with adrenaline when I use my powers, and only as a last resort. Summoning them with no real incentive took some effort. “You were distracted and awkward. You know that you won't be able to take your time like that in a real battle, right?”  _Real battle?_

“In a real battle we’d be armed and scared out of our minds,” argues Percy.

“We're not always armed.”

“But we always start with a weapon!”

“That's your problem! You rely too heavily on your weapons!”

I don't know if she's addressing all of us or just Percy. I missed their back and forths. Either way, they both have a point.

Jason steps in. “Whoa guys, settle down.” Percy shoots Thalia one last angry look and walks towards the lake to take care of his cut. “C’mon Thalia. It's only our first practice.”

I feel that uneasiness again. Thalia is taking this too seriously. Maybe I'm just not fully acquainted with Lieutenant Thalia but this doesn't seem like some light-hearted idea from Chiron. I think she's starting to understand that too. I wonder what instructions the old centaur gave her.

I turn to Hazel, her eyes are trained on Thalia’s face. She's been skeptical all the way, but she's choosing not to show it to see where this is going. Smart plan. “Yeah, Jason's right. I mean we're not used to it yet,” she says

Thalia glances at Percy. “Fine. Let's go again.”

She doesn't change the partners and it doesn't get easier. By the end we're all soaked in sweat and I'm ready to take a long nap. Of course none of us can do that since the day’s barely started at camp. I wish we had Roman baths here. All of us that have been to Camp Jupiter have been campaigning for them but Annabeth still has us at maybe.

Afterwards Hazel asks “Why did you think she paired us up like that?”

“I don't know.” She can collapse underground tunnels and Poseidon  _is_  the Earthshaker but Jason and I made no sense. Pairs didn't make sense, period.

“Maybe she thinks frustration triggers our powers.”

I consider it. “Well it definitely works for her.”

She shrugs and we drop the conversation, heading to our respective activities, both still clearly weary about the whole situation.

************

“-I don't know that's what Jason said,” finishes Piper. She's only half paying attention to her sculpture. I haven't even tried to examine my blueprints as she tells me about the training session this morning. I won't get to see Percy until tonight so she got to hear about it from Jason first.

“Thalia  _does_  seem very on edge lately. I think she's avoiding me actually.” I don't mean to sound hurt but Piper notices anyways. “I mean I get it, she has a lot on her plate and she has to spend all the time she can with Jason.”

“No she doesn't. Even Jason thinks something is up. Not just between Thalia and Percy.”

“It  _is_  pretty weird timing.” I've tried not to think about how the whole thing actually does bother me slightly. I want things to not be complicated for once in my life. “But I trust Thalia and Chiron. They're just not used it.” I try to change the conversation. “So what did Jason think? About the whole high school idea?” After being away from her dad for so long Piper decided to go back to mortal school. She wasn't big on the idea of not getting to see Jason as often, so she told me she was going to ask him to start school with her.

“He's really on board with it actually!” She's smiling again which is nice. I haven't seen many of those from her since Leo. “He's kind of nervous about spending time with my Dad, though.”

“Oh please! There isn't a parent out there that wouldn't love him!”

“Which is what I told him.” She tries to go back to her sculpture but it's stopped looking like anything a long time ago. “What about your Dad? Does he approve of you dating a delinquent?”

“Hey, all charges against my delinquent have been dropped!”

She chuckles and I go back to my blueprints. I actually haven't seen my Dad in a while. I sent him an iris message before heading to New Rome and a text after the fight with Gaea to let him know I was alive, but I keep putting off going to San Francisco. After hearing about Piper’s plans to go back to L.A I make a mental note to schedule a visit with my mortal family.

 

 

I finally catch up with Percy at the stables; a mare is pregnant and Will has Percy check in on her a couple of times a week. “How is she?”

“She's about ready to not be pregnant anymore.” The grey Pegasus neighs irritably and he chuckles. “ _More_  than ready actually.”

“How was everything today?” He's probably guessed that Piper told me everything. He knows what I'm asking about. He chews on his lip. I can tell he's debating whether or not to tell me what he actually thinks. “That bad, huh?”

“No, I mean… something just feels off y’know? Like she's not telling us something.” I don't know what face I make but he drops the brush he's holding and takes my hand and tries and easy smile. “We're probably reading too much into it. Old habits. For all we know she's anxious to get to whatever project Artemis assigned the Hunters this time.”

“Yeah.” Old habits. “You're probably right.”

He kisses me so I don't start thinking too much about it. I will eventually, but not now. His lips actually manage to tug a smile out of me. “There she is.”

_Idiot._

**********

We haven't been able to beat the Hunters at capture the flag for years. I no longer wonder why. Lieutenant Thalia is like every drill Sergeant I've seen on TV except she can call down lightning. She insists on her ‘no weapons’ policy and I suspect it's so we don't try to attack her because we're all about ready to do so. Even Jason shot her a wolf stare after his tornado flickered and she struck the spot right next to him. Needless to say she makes it really hard to hold back.

I haven't been able to control my powers quite as well as I used to. Probably because, ever since Tartarus, they've been easier to call. I used to have to reach so hard until I felt an aching pull. It was last resort, always in the heat of battle. I can see the same strain in the others. However they've been using their powers, it hasn't been for the reasons I did down there.

It's intoxicating. I'm afraid they'll realize that, how freeing it is. How so utterly in control you feel.

Hazel is currently wrapping what used to be a block of gold around my ankles. She summoned it a couple days ago and has been practicing at molting it. By now it's basically like play doh under her control, but it still takes a lot out of her. I can feel the beads of sweat running down her forehead just as easily as the icy mist of the hurricane I'm currently maintaining around me. I can sense the water in her tears as lose droplets sting her eyes. I could reach out and grasp the water in the plasma of her blood if I wanted to.

I have to concentrate on this hurricane or I'm going to lose the delicate hold I have on my restraint. I make it bigger and urge it to move towards her. I try to envelope her in it so that she completely loses focus and I can move my legs again. The force of it knocks me back, but my feet are still secured by the gold so I end up doing a very Matrix-like backbend and then springing upright again. The move is so ridiculous it makes Hazel crack up and her focus finally shatters. The gold melts away so I'm left standing in a very expensive puddle.

“Okay I guess that's enough for today.” Thalia calls out. She tries to sound irritated but I can tell she's also amused. “I want you guys to bring armor tomorrow to see what Hazel can do with that.”

“I can only control  _precious_ metals,” she reminds Thalia, “and I've only seen Celestial Bronze used in weapons here.”

“There's some in the armory and Cabin 9 always has some around.” I add, but it's true. We rarely use it for armor, opting to save it for weapons instead.

“I've just been thinking,” continues Thalia, “what exactly is considered  _precious_? You've been able to summon different types of granite and stone right?”

“Yeah.”

“Like the schist.” Nico and Jason shoot me a look. “It's a rock!”

Thalia ignores me. “There's value to any metal, especially the one we use to protect ourselves from monsters. Gold and silver are only considered riches because we give them that value.”

“So you're saying that any metal is  _precious_?” Asks Nico. “That Hazel could  possibly control any and all metals?”

“Pluto is supposed to control all the riches under the earth, right?” Jason adds. “Makes sense.”

We all let that sink in. Hazel is already insanely powerful, the fact that she could have Magneto-esque powers is pretty alarming. She tries to act normal even though I can tell the idea also makes her nervous. She gives us her cheeriest  _‘see ya later!’_  when Thalia finally dismisses us, but it comes out pretty shrill, and runs off with Nico close at her heels.

“And don't think I didn't see you today, Kelp Head.” For a second I think she's talking about my little stunt with the hurricane but then she nods to where I was  just standing. Huge cracks cut the ground exactly where my feet were a few seconds ago. “Earthshaker indeed.”

 

 

Later that day I'm walking back from a sword fighting class with Jason. He's been helping me out since it keeps him busy while he's at camp. We're just passing the Big House to head to the Amphitheater when we run into Annabeth storming out. She spots us and I'm about to ask what's wrong when Clarisse bursts out behind her and heads for the cabins. “What was it this time?” I ask after Annabeth greets me with a kiss.

“She insists that we start work with her cabin first! Which is ridiculous since we all agreed to finish the expansions to the Dining Pavilion and we still need to  _finish_  some of the newer cabins!”

Jason is vaguely alarmed by Annabeth which goes to show he's used to this kind of thing and actually knows her. Most run the other way at the sight of a pissed off Annabeth. I can't blame them, but after five years I only notice how her exasperation brings color to her cheeks, making her even hotter than usual. “She's starting to panic.” I tell her. She knows; it doesn't make dealing with her any easier, though.

“Clarisse doesn't seem like someone who panics over remodelations,” says Jason.

“She’s not. She's starting college in September.”

“She’ll be the first along with Travis in a while to do so,” Annabeth explains, “and it's especially hard to leave now y’know.”

Jason nods. I can tell he's still not used to the normal Greek life-span which is basically short and painful. “How long is a while?”

Annabeth goes silent beside me.

I know we’re both thinking of Beckendorf, who of course was all set for college until I left him to be blown up in the Andromeda. I take her hand and start walking. “C’mon, we're going to be late.” Jason gets the hint and doesn't press it. 

It's bizarre to think that it's only actually been a little over a year. We celebrated the one year anniversary of the Battle of Manhattan a week ago. It was especially gruesome to hear Jake Mason talk about their fallen brother when they'd just lost Leo too. As I looked around, I realized that almost all the head counselors were different than last year. Most, like Will and Jake, had stepped up after their siblings had died fighting. Will was made head counselor mid-battle, after Michael disappeared in the bridge I collapsed. That would make it the second time the mantle had been passed on that way for Cabin 7, since Michael only became head counselor after Lee Fletcher died a year earlier in the Battle of the Labyrinth.

Clarisse nearly broke down when it was her turn to talk about Silena.

“You'd think they'd gotten used to it by now.” Neither me or Annabeth were paying much attention so Jason nods towards several groups of people who seem to be staring at us as we walk. “You guys have been dating long enough for it to be old news, right?”

_Well considering I was only here for two months after we got together and then disappeared for the other ten…_ “Who says they're looking at us?”

Annabeth laughs. “Yeah. They better hope Piper doesn't catch them ogling her man.”

Jason blushes but chuckles along when I punch his arm. I wrap my arm around Annabeth so I can press a kiss to her temple.  _I’m here now._

**********

I'm exhausted. The point of controlling metal with your mind is supposed to be that it's easier than actually picking it up and hurling it yourself, right?

WRONG!

After two hours every single one of my muscles are screaming for me to stop. Thalia was right. It didn't matter that they boys’ armor wasn't Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold; I could control it. It's much harder though. Even though I haven't stood up from this boulder in over an hour I feel like I've run a marathon.

Thalia's instructions were simple: get the boys to stop fighting by pulling them away from each other. Simple. Simple? Even though it's obvious they are going pretty easy on each other, it still feels like I’m physically pulling them away by the collar. And my tugging doesn't seem to be bothering them nearly as much as I hope. I'm concentrating on keeping Percy in place by willing his breastplate to keep still, but it only slows him down. I try the same with Jason and eventually Nico to no avail.

I'm so tired and so frustrated that with one final tug I bring my hands together, clapping so hard my palms sting. The second my hands come together the three boys fly towards each other -guided by their breastplates- and smack so hard against one another that I'm sure they hear the clang all the way to Half-Blood Hill.

“Yes! That's what I'm talking about Hazel! Well done!” No one really shares Thalia’s enthusiasm but Nico manages to shoot me a pained smile that ends up looking quite gruesome since his mouth is bloody from head butting the other two boys at maximum speed.

Strangely, I'm not feeling the effects of that last pull. I actually feel better. The knots that have been forming in my shoulders for the last two hours actually feel looser and my potential headache is gone.

I shrug it off. I've done way more damage than manipulating some rusty breastplates. I guess I just needed to get used to the metal.

I'm walking towards Jason and Percy who are still groaning on the floor when a rustling from the trees stops me. I'm not the only one that hears it because in a flash Percy springs off the ground and uncaps Riptide, the rest stand tense. We hear it again and this time I notice something (someone?) behind the trees. Percy immediately dives towards the thicker forest ignoring whatever it is Thalia tells him. A few seconds later we hear a loud bleat and an ominous  _oompf!_

We all scramble to see what's happening. At first my brain is confused by what it's seeing. Whatever was rustling behind the trees Percy seems to have tackled it to the ground. Furry hindquarters stick up, goat legs ending in shiny hooves. For some reason an ill-fitting shoe dangles from one. Then I remember that Greek fauns, satyrs, are much different from the ones in New Rome. That's what it, he, appears to be. This one in particular accepts the hand that Percy offers to lift him off the ground with great gusto and proceeds to hug him like one would a brother. Behind me Thalia exclaims “Grover!” and rushes to join the embrace. A memory of the strange hours after the battle with Gaea surfaces; he fought alongside the Greeks, alongside Percy and Annabeth. I'm sure they introduced us but I don't remember much of the moments after the fighting stopped. Just Leo flying atop Festus. Leo exploding above me, all of us knowing we'd never reach him in time…

“Why didn't you tell us you were coming, G-man!” I'm brought back to the present by Thalia and Percy’s excited chatter. Jason and I stand awkwardly while the little reunion takes place. Nico leans casually against a tree but I detect a ghost of a smile. Finally Percy realizes we're still here. “Oh hey sorry. You remember Hazel, right? And-”

“Jason,” the satyr finishes, “of course, of course.”

He shakes Jason's hand and then takes mine. I wish I'd paid more attention the first time we got introduced because I immediately like him. He seems a bit shy, fiddling with his hands and playing with the reed pipes hanging from his neck, but he stands straight and smiles broadly. I wonder out loud why he and Jason never properly met all those months he was at camp.

“Oh I don't get to spend too much time at camp anymore I'm afraid.” He answers. “Lord of the Wild business never ends.”  _Lord of the Wild?_  I make a mental note to underestimate him. “Which is why my girlfriend is always mad at me which is why I should go meet her right about now.” Percy is visibly disappointed and looks like he's about to argue but Grover stops him. “Don't worry man I'll be here all week.”

Both boys clap each other on the back one again. I hear Grover whisper something to Percy making a fleeting dark look pass in his eyes, but the next second it's gone and they're all smiles again. Thalia hugs him again too. “I'll be at Camp for a little while too -long story- so we have to do something.”

The satyr agrees and tells both Jason and I it was nice to see us again. “You too, Nico!” This time my brother actually smiles and gives him a wave before Grover disappears into the forest.

Thalia finally let's us go after that. As we walk out of the forest Percy's in a better mood than I've seen him in weeks. “You're really close with him, aren't you?”

He smiles sheepishly. “I mean, yeah. He's my best friend. He brought me to camp, went with me and Annabeth on our first quest and a bunch of others after that.”

“He also brought Thalia and Annabeth in, right?” Asks Jason.

“Yeah, along with Luke. He seems to have pretty good instincts when it comes to Big Three kids. He found Nico too.”

“No wonder he's Lord of the Wild.”

Percy smiles proudly as we compliment his friend. I try to focus on his good mood but can't help but revert back to wondering what Grover told him that made his smile vanish for a brief second.

*******

Ever since my birthday, I haven't been big on picnics. But since a picnic on the beach for Grover -it was Annabeth’s idea- is the only day Thalia’s letting us have off from practice, I'm not complaining. Especially after yesterday's session.

My sister finally decided to zero in on me. She'd tortured Hazel and now it was my turn. I knew it was going to be bad when I arrived at Zeus’ Fist five minutes early and she was already there looking all excited. You can tell she's excited because little sparks of electricity bounce off her spiky hair.

“I've been wanting to teach you this trick for a while now,” she told me as I made my way towards where she was standing. She pulled out a hunting knife and told me to get closer. Then, she knitted her eyebrows in concentration. A few moments later I gaped as the long blade started to be encapsulated by tiny rivets of electricity. It was like watching those videos of spiders building their webs but a hundred times faster and with bluish, purple static. I watched as her grasp on the handle tightened making the tendrils thicken. She'd wrapped her blade in lightning.

Just then everyone else decided to arrive. Nico and Hazel were transfixed by the blade but Percy kept looking at Thalia. I guess she did look pretty crazy, grinning like a maniac and holding her mutated knife. Finally he said: “Is that supposed to be a cheap replica of the Master Bolt?”

“Ha ha, Jackson.” She rolled her eyes at Percy and with a flick of her wrist made the knife go back to normal. “It's what we’ll be working on today.” Percy arched an eyebrow and Nico did his best to look bored (which, given that that's his default expression, wasn't hard). Their mood significantly rose when she announced we could use our own weapons. “Don't get all excited, I just think Jason needs a little incentive to pull this trick out of him.”

I was grateful for the vote of confidence. I could tell that Thalia was less than impressed by my lightning-calling skills. In battle, Thalia called down thunder every few seconds and still managed to have enough strength to fight like a beast. For me it's always been last resort because it takes a lot out of me. She thinks it's lack of practice. I'm not sure I agree.

She made the others stand in a circle and joined them as well. I was to try to electrify my sword while they took turns lunging at me.  _Where does she come up with these drills?_ Which seemed unfair to me because 1) it would be impossible to properly concentrate, and 2) she hadn't really explained how to do it in the first place.

Hazel went first. Her cavalry sword gave her a wide berth and she almost got me but I side-stepped right into Nico’s attack. This time I used my sword to deflect the blow. All the while I thought about calling down lightning. By the time I got to Percy the hairs in my arms when standing upright because of the static, the sky rumbled above me. “Concentrate on the blade! Redirect the lightning!” Thalia shouted at me as I met her spear.

It was a blur for a while. I was stuck in between concentrating on sparring the attacks and willing the static to engulf my sword. At one point I saw a spark fly but it might've been from the force of meeting Nico’s sword. Thalia kept shouting out advice. It was pretty unhelpful but then I caught a piece that maybe had a point. “Use your own body to conduct it onto your sword! It has to pass through you!”

It was a scary thought, willing yourself to be struck by lightning, but I knew from experience that it wouldn't kill me and I'd done crazier (dumber) things.

I finally called down the strike I'd been feeling creep on and redirected it towards me.

The hard part was concentrating it in the sword. I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been Imperial Gold it would've been shredded to pieces. And while Thalia laughed delighted, the rest backed away. Smart since I doubt they can sustain electricity the way Thalia and I can.

My sister electrified her own spear - easy, barely broke a sweat- and struck once again. What she didn't know was that it was taking all of my strength just to keep up the little “trick”. The same fatigue I get from calling down lightning the normal way attacked me but twice as hard. There was a tugging in my gut that was was getting so painful I almost doubled over. Her first blow brought me to my knees.

“I think that's enough, Thalia.” She completely ignored Percy, who seemed to have noticed I couldn't go on for much longer. I drew on a last reserve of strength, determined to keep going, and the tug lurched violently. “Thalia  _stop!_ ”

Then I blacked out. Again.

 

 

I woke up in the infirmary to a Percy and Nico that could barely hold in their laughter because at this point me passing out is a cosmic joke designed to make me look like an idiot. Hazel at least bothered to look concerned. But no Thalia.

“She's off somewhere sulking and beating herself up about it. Don't worry.” Percy's words didn't make me stop worrying at all.  Nor did the worried glances Nico seemed to steal when Percy wasn't looking. I'll have to ask him what exactly happened after I passed out later.

I know I should've gone looking for Thalia then, I don't really enjoy making my sister feel guilty, she already did that long enough during all those years she thought I was dead, but I didn't.

She's been avoiding me ever since. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to her today since I knew she couldn't skip a picnic thrown by Annabeth for Grover, but so far she's been stalling by refereeing arm wrestling matches between her Hunters and the Ares Cabin.

“What I'd really pay to see is for her to go against Clarisse,” says Piper beside me.

“I thought you liked Clarisse.”

She chuckles. “Are you going to talk to her, or are both of you still avoiding each other?”

“She's avoiding  _me!_ ”

Piper gives me a stare that says  _really?_  because maybe she's a little right. Thalia might be avoiding me but I haven't really tried to talk either. If I'm being honest I'm still pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. Plus, I was hoping these training sessions would be a way for us to bond more. I could tell she was excited to get to train with someone and not be worried about electrocuting them, to talk shop about the joys of having Jupiter/Zeus as a father and all the fun side-effects it comes with. I didn't want her to think I couldn't take it.

“You guys need to start getting used to talking to each other. Trust me, it's weird at first but then it's so easy.”

“It's different for me and Thalia, Pipes. You know that.”

She rolls her beautiful eyes which today decided to look a dark, hazely green. “How is it different? I met a whole cabin of siblings I didn't even know existed when I was sixteen and  _believe_  me it was pretty weird at first, especially with Drew. But, at the end of the day, they're family, y’know? They get it.” She takes my hand. “Just talk to her.”

I sigh but stand up from the blanket we spears out in the sand. Piper shoots me one last smile as I make my way towards my sister. It seems the arm wrestling has turned into just wrestling so she doesn't hear me coming. “C’mon, Sherman! You can take her!” I hear Clarisse roar somewhere behind the wall of Ares kids that have formed around two grappling figures on the floor. Thalia is a few feet away laughing along with a blonde huntress in silver cargo pants to match her own. They don't seem too worried about losing.

She turns around when she hears me come up behind her. “Oh hey, Jason!” Both their smiles melt away. Usually the hunters act fairly nicely around me but Thalia’s blonde friend doesn't seem too happy about having to stay at camp and, from the looks of it, she blames me. “Helen can you gives us a moment?” Helen gives me one more intimidating look and then walks away to join the angry mob around the wrestling match.

“Hey, I just wanted to-”

“Wait. Jason, before you say anything I just wanted to say, I'm sorry.” The apology seems to taste bitter in her mouth. I know she doesn't do this often. “I shouldn't have pushed you so hard.”

I don't want her to think she can't. I don't want her to go easy on me. “No, you're right. I need more practice and that trick could come in handy. And if  _you_  can do it, I should be able to too.”

Her face seems to soften. “Just because  _I_  can do it doesn't mean you'll be able to too. I don't think that's how it works.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, look at Nico and Hazel. Same parent but they both represent different aspects of their Dad. Greek and Roman.”

I think she's just trying to make me feel better. “Jupiter isn't that different from Zeus.” She raises her eyebrow at me as if saying  _wanna bet?_ “Plus, we don't have just  _one_  parent in common.”

I feel like a kid throwing a tantrum, but I don't care. So what if I want to be more like my big sister. Sue me.

“Hey, c’mon J look at me,” I peel my eyes away from the floor and look at hers. At least we have  _that_  in common. “When have you seen _me_  fly? Or control the winds like you do?”

“I-”okay she's got a point there- “you probably could if you tried.”

“Oh I’ve tried!” She looks a little pale for some reason, making her freckles stand out. “Heights are just not my thing.”

_Wait_. “You're afraid of heights?”

“Yes, okay!” Her tone tells me to drop it, but a little warmth spreads across my chest nonetheless. I can tell it's something that really embarrasses her, but she chose to tell me anyways to make me feel better. She rolls her eyes at my smile. “Shut up.”

I follow her to where everyone else is sitting. When Annabeth sees us she slightly nods her head towards where Nico is sitting a slight blush on his place cheeks. She's keeping her boyfriend’s mouth shut by stuffing it with food.

A thought crosses my mind as I watch Percy try to avoid Annabeth's hand. Thalia and I, we divide our father’s power between each other. Nico and Hazel do the same. But not Percy. The full power of Poseidon, Percy represents it all by himself.

*******

“Gods Nico just talk to him.”

My cheeks go bright red as Hazel catches me staring at Will. He's just sprawled there basking in the sunlight, what am I supposed to do?! At least she's embarrassed as well, fanning her face in that old-fashioned way.

I'm actually quite surprised about how she's dealing with the whole situation. She lived most of her life in the 1930s-1940s, so I would've understood some trepidation, but she only gave me a wide smile and thanked me for trusting her. When she caught on about Will she was delighted. She loves the idea of me and a doctor or something. Or maybe it's the fact that literally no one hates Will. It's kind of creepy.

“I do talk to him.”

“You told him his fly was down two weeks ago. That doesn't count.”

As always, Percy has perfect timing. “What are we talking about? Why does Nico look like a tomato?”

“Nothing!” I make the mistake of glancing at Will when I notice him standing up and suddenly Percy's face breaks into a grin worthy of any Hermes kid. “Shut up!”

“Oh. My. Gods.”

“Percy I mean it!”

Annabeth doesn't look any more innocent than her boyfriend. “I might've heard a rumor or two about  _him_ ”- she nodded her head towards Will- “having a crush on  _you._ ”

Hazel actually squeals.

“We are  _not_  talking about this.”

“Fine,” says Percy, laying down on Annabeth's lap, “I guess we’ll just have to wait for  _him_  to make the first move.”

“I hate you all.”

Grover, followed by Piper, takes the final spot on our picnic blanket and Hazel and Annabeth are kind enough to keep quiet. Annabeth stuffs her boyfriend’s mouth with grapes before he can say anything but she stills shares a look with Piper.

Piper’s probably known since she has the whole Aphrodite cabin at her disposal and Percy will eventually tell Grover. By some idiot move I told Jason myself.

Great, now everyone knows.

I would complain but it's such a normal, embarrassing problem to have that I end up having to suppress a smile.  _Normal_. The concept seems so foreign to me, but here we are having a stupid picnic by the beach and hearing Grover play terrible versions of Hilary Duff classics on his reed pipes. It might not be a mortal’s version of normalcy, but it's as close as a demigod gets.

“Where’s Jason?” I ask Piper.

“Talking to Thalia. I finally convinced them to stop acting like children and actually communicate.”

“Ah yes,” exclaims Percy, “communication. One of Thalia’s fortes.” Annabeth slaps his arm. “Ow! What? She's great at death threats.”

“You'd know.”

Normal. Annabeth and Percy playfully arguing. Normal. Hazel gushing about Frank and what a good praetor he is. Normal. Jason and Thalia finally walking towards us, Jason looking awkward until she puts him in a headlock and musses his hair making him laugh. Normal.

Yet.

Piper keeps looking to her right, but Leo’s gone. I searched for his spirit, but I never felt him die. I didn't tell them this though; there are worse things than death. Loss is torture enough, I couldn't bear to add false hope to the list.

Thalia laughs along, but she's worried. Guilt plagues her nervous hands as they dig into the sand. I remember the panic in Percy's voice as he told her to stop, how he snapped at her for being blinded by her own power. I remember her silence as they both dragged Jason to the infirmary.

Grover shoots Percy and Annabeth concerned looks when he's sure they won't notice, because even though they've gained the weight they lost and no longer look like ghosts, they're exhausted. Everyone at camp has heard them scream themselves awake.

Then there's the issue of these training sessions. Training for what? What else could they possibly throw our way?

“Hey.” Everyone noticeably goes quiet as Will sits besides me. There's barely enough space so our knees are touching. I get the very distinct urge to run.

“Hi!” Hazel’s smile practically touches her ears.

I try to focus on a) not running away and b) not looking at him. I see him reach for the grapes in my peripheral and quickly focus on my hands. Suddenly I'm very aware just how crowded it is. I try to lean back as far as I can and catch a breeze to myself. Everyone else’s chatter fades to the background.

Will leans back too, this time I allow myself to look at him. I guess I've been avoiding him. The second Thalia arrived it was like a bubble burst. “What's up?” He asks. He seems concerned; this close I can admire how his long eyelashes frame his eyes gold in the sun.

I want to tell him about everything, but I don't want to corrupt him. He's light. And maybe I don't have to talk about, maybe I can just forget and pretend nothing strange is going on. “Nothing,” I answer, “I've just been a bit busy-” I nod towards Thalia- “ that's all.”

I don't think he buys it but he smiles at me anyways. “Okay.” He takes my hand and I don't even care that everyone notices, or that he doesn't let go.

*****

“Dionysus.” Chiron hadn't seen or heard from the god of wine in days. “Come to finally celebrate our victory?”

_“Victory?”_  He huffs and tries to brush some of the lint from his grey and purple striped suit. “Maybe here. Olympus is tearing itself apart trying to allocate blame! Zeus isn't happy! Not happy at all!”

Chiron paused to take in the day. Beautiful. He could hear the laughter coming from the beach where his heroes now celebrated their friends, themselves, being alive. He hoped for his father’s power, to freeze them in this moment and spare them from the darkness that was to come. “Who will it be this time?”

“It seems they have narrowed down on Apollo.” Dionysius scoffed, as always irritated by his half-brother. “No wonder. Had we had the power of prophecy…” The god left the thought there. “What about you? How has your little task played out so far?”

Chiron clenched the railing of the Big House. To have to prep the children to be presented… as if there were lifeless weapons instead of feeling, thinking beings. To have to betray them for the sake of the gods… “When have they ever let down Olympus?”

“Good! At least I'll have  _some_  good news to bring to Zeus!” With a puff that left the scent of tangy grapes in the air, the god disappeared.

Chiron had actually thought he'd trained his last tragedy. Finally, heroes that would get to enjoy the riches of the world they'd help save.

Oh, how cruel the Fates were.

********

Thalia’s officially lost it. She's decided to zero in on me today. She has to repeat herself because my brain doesn't really process when she says it the first time.

“I-” she points at herself and jabs a finger at my chest as she continues- “want you to bring this-” she motions to the dead squirrel at her feet- “back to life.”

I understand that I've done things similar to this in the past. It wasn't until recently that I was able to deal with non-humans, though. At first I looked confused, did she want me to control its corpse or something? Get more practice with animals? (It sounds gruesome but it's quite doable for me) But she shook her hair as she saw the thought form. Alive. She wanted it to breathe again.

“You're insane.” Not even Jason pipes up to defend his sister. Percy and Hazel look at her as if she's grow a third eye. “That's impossible, way out of my reach.”

“I  _know_  you can do it.”

_“I could get in trouble for even attempting to do it.”_  My warning comes out as a low hiss.

“Just try it, Nico.” She's been holding my gaze the whole time but suddenly a nerve jumps in her forehead. She doesn't actually want me to do this. This is Chiron speaking through her.

“No.” I feel everyone stiffen around me. We've all been pretty hesitant about this whole ordeal, but up until now no one’s downright refused to do it. I'm now certain these training sessions won't benefit us at all, though, and I refuse to cross that line. Tartarus itself didn't make me.

I must admit I tried it once, after Bianca died. People’s souls or spirits (whatever you want to call them), I’ve always been able to sense them. It's how I can summon ghost for brief periods of time, call on the skeletons of the Underworld to my service. If I reach hard enough with my mind, I can barely stroke their essence. I briefly give them some of my strength so they can materialize if they are ghost or move if they're a body. I figured that if I focused hard enough I could fully grasp an essence that had seized to exist in the mortal world, and give it enough of my strength to come back.

And so that's what I did. I guess Bianca knew me too well, because she hid away from me. Not many could, but she was a daughter of Hades even in death. I tried it on the first ghost that appeared to me instead.

I knew I'd made a mistake as soon as I closed a hand around Minos’s essence. I immediately felt my own seep out of me, but it wasn't restoring what had been lost during his death. I was just making a dead person have a physical form again. Alive but not living. It made me want to explode with how wrong it felt.

I thought I'd do anything to bring my sister back, and since then I've caved in and allowed myself to crack. But not that. Not ever.

“I won't do it, Thalia.”

She flashes her eyes at me but I see past it. Underneath it all, I see relief.

******

Chiron hears Thalia Grace stomp her way into his office before he actually sees her. He knows exactly what he'd see if he turned around. He hadn't fully processed himself what he'd last asked her to do.

She'd looked at him incredulous. After the incident with Jason she'd warned him not to push too far; it was clear to him that she was now fully distrusting of what he'd told her were his intentions initially, and was only sticking around to figure out what this was actually about. Her warnings, of course, were nothing new to the old centaur. He'd said the same thing to Dionysus when he was first ordered him to do this.

“He didn't do it.” She tells him.

Chiron’s aware that the gods expect him to convince her to go back out there and not come back until the boy has at least attempted to do what they want to see, but he just nods.  _Good_ , he thinks. Nico has enough to deal with already.

“I'm done. I'm taking my hunters and leaving  _right now._ ”

A vice-like grip seems to take hold of Chiron, reminding him that the gods have other, less friendly, methods to obtain the information they seek. “Thalia.”

“I mean it. If you don't want to tell me what's really going on here, fine! But I won't be a part of this!”

“Thalia. Don't you trust me?” He tightens his fists at his sides. If there was any other way… “Because Annabeth, does.  _Luke_  did.” At the mention of his name her anger seems to slightly melt away. “I know what I'm doing.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.” He finally turns to look at her. He makes sure she listens to him, really listens. “I know exactly what I'm doing, Thalia. I know I'm asking a lot from you, from the others, but we’re almost done.”  _Then I'll give them the truth_ , Chiron thinks. He knows Zeus is listening.

She sighs. “Percy. He's next, isn't he?”

Something happened after Jason collapsed, but Thalia wouldn't tell him. He knew Thalia wasn't easily shaken, but somehow this had. Chiron suspected it had something to do with the special interest the gods had taken on Percy. With the rest of the children they seemed to be speculating, but with him they were sure.

“Yes.”

*********

“C’mon Jackson! I've seen you do it!”

“You've  _seen_  me make a few cracks on the floor!”

Thalia rolls her eyes at me. I should've known she'd come after me next with the way I snapped at her after the whole Jason incident and how badly her attempt with Nico went. “I'm not asking you to do anything you haven't done before. I took the necessary precautions and everything!”

“A change of venue hardly counts as necessary precautions!” I should've known something was up when Thalia suggested we go on a hike. This is the farthest into the woods I've ever walked -it took us hours- and I've been getting lost in here since I was twelve. We must be close to the Western Hills of the Camp. “Last time I almost tore a volcano apart and it almost killed me!”

“Details!”

“They had a funeral and everything!”

She makes a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. I'm uncomfortably aware of the others watching us, their eyes following us the way one would follow a very important ping pong match.  _Why does she care so much about this anyways?_

“How would this help me have more control over my powers?” I ask, my voice lower. “What I did back then is the definition of losing control.”  _And you don't want to see me lose control now._  She catches the look in my eyes and seems to read my mind. I can't believe she’d push me after the incident with Jason.

I hadn't allowed myself to touch that part of my powers since Tartarus. Most of my nightmares consist of re-living that moment. The moment I felt something inside me shatter irreparably. The moment I turned into everything I've been fighting for five years.

I don't even remember calling on my powers. I just saw the strain in Jason’s face, Thalia looked mad. I felt anger hitting me in waves and suddenly I was telling Thalia to stop. But I did more than that. Her eyes widened, but she wasn't looking at Jason, who had just collapsed. She was staring at me in horror because she couldn't move. I was holding her in place, willing all the water in her body to stay static. It was only for a second, the others didn't notice, but she’d felt herself lose control of her own body and probably felt my tightened fists even though they hung at my sides.

Much like they do now.

“You're suppressing them, building pressure,” she argues, answering my questions.

“Who made  _you_  the expert?”

“Chiron, dumbass, remember?”

We don't stare away from each other as Hazel steps in between us and starts telling us to calm down. Neither Jason nor Nico were bold enough to intervene, but Hazel only sounds slightly irritated.

Thalia just won't shut up though.

“I can't believe we're having the same argument as always! You just can't stand anyone but yourself being in charge!” She spits in my face. Hazel places a hand on my chest. I've gotten so close to Thalia that we're practically squishing her in between our taller frames. “You're not the hero, remember?!”

I'm only half aware of pushing Hazel aside and Nico’s cry of protest.

_The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap_

“Don't you  _dare_  throw those lines at me!”

“OR WHAT?!”

I don't get a chance to retaliate because just then Nico raises a solid, black wall of obsidian between us. “THAT’S ENOUGH!”

My adrenaline drains in a second. I turn in time to watch Jason help Hazel up. I pushed her aside. An apology dies on my lips when I catch Nico’s eyes. Dark, angry eyes.

What am I doing?

_‘I won't tell on you, but you have to promise to keep my sister safe.’_

_‘Promise.’_

_‘Tell him...tell him I'm sorry.’ She ran off before I could stop her._

What am I doing?

It's like nothing's changed. I'm arguing with Thalia. I'm letting down Nico.

But what's my excuse now?

The wall of obsidian slowly melts back into the ground. Thalia and I stare at each other in shock. I know what she's thinking by the look of guilt that frames her eyes. We could've hurt someone. I was about to hurt  _her._ I was so close to losing control; my temper rose in an instant. I look down at my feet and sure enough there are cracks there. Nico stopped us just in time...stopped  _me._

I turn to Hazel. There's an angry red scrape on her elbow. I want to melt right into the ground along with the obsidian. I want to melt all the way to Hell where I belong. “I'm...so sorry,” I choke out. I said the same thing to Bianca Di Angelo’s ghost.

*******

I'm worried about Percy. I'm worried about Annabeth. I'm worried about the real reasons behind this damn training sessions. I'm worried and I can't think. I can't think because I can't sleep. The calm from the picnic didn't last a goddamn second.

Thalia probably didn't know it, but she was pushing too hard, harder than she'd done with Jason. It isn't like before, when we were younger. Even back then our powers scared me. Watching Thalia and Percy fight by Zeus’s Fist all those years ago had been the most awesome display of power I'd ever seen. They were more intimidating than I'd ever imagined any of my Mythomagic figurines would be in real life. Now, I know that was only a fraction of what we can do.

I would've done anything to have powers like them when I was ten. I didn't understand what it meant, the pain you'd have to undergo to tap into that part of yourself. I didn't understand that something inside you had to break to reach them.

When Annabeth and Percy fell I hoped they'd come out untouched by that vile hellhole. They've always been stronger than me. No matter what happened, Percy had never lost hope. He was good. I hated him for it. I could look into his eyes and know they would never look as angry and as bitter as mine did, and I envied that. But it also made me want to be just as brave, made me trust him despite everything. I realize now it was unfair to put him on such a pedestal.

It makes me angrier than anything that I lived through down there. I never minded them taking hope from me, I didn't have much to begin with, but Percy...Annabeth...they are true heroes. They've earned hope.

After I broke up their fight, I was the one that suggested Thalia go talk with Annabeth. She looked like she needed it. No one really knew what to do. We’d been pretending everything was fine and in a second we dropped the front and it was impossible to get it back. For some reason I felt calmer than the rest. Pretending has always made me edgier.

“You need to find out why they’re training us,” I told Thalia. We weren't skirting past the obvious any longer. “I’m sure Annabeth will figure something out.”

She gave Percy a side glance as she dove back into the forest. He flashed one right back,  _Later_. Whatever discussion they should have it wasn't going to be in front of us.

Jason followed his sister and Hazel looked down at her scraped elbow. My anger at seeing Percy push her aside had been painfully poignant, like a stab in the heart, but it was momentary. Percy tried to step towards her and apologize once again but she put her hand up. “Don't, Percy. It's fine.” It wasn't, you could hear it all over her tone. She simply meant she'd get over it, but right now she wanted to leave. So she did, and suddenly it was just me and Percy.

Only then did I notice that we were almost the same height now, that seventeen wasn't too far from fourteen. We'd never been too far apart. But he, unlike me, had shouldered two Great Prophecies.

He seemed to notice it too. “When did you grow up?” I don't know if he was asking me or himself.

It was very subtle: his shoulders drooped down so that he was properly hunching, he slid his hands through his face with a deep sigh. Suddenly, he wasn't The Percy Jackson. He was just Percy.

Bianca used to wake up hours before I did on Christmas Day and place presents under our tree. I caught her doing it at the hotel once. I didn't make a sound; for the first time she didn't look like my older sister, but like the eleven or twelve-year-old she was. She looked like she was playing at being an adult, and for once I noticed how childish it all seemed. I remember feeling sad and guilty because no one did it for her. The next morning I was set on telling her I knew, but she seemed so excited for me to open my presents that I never did.

Percy looked like she did placing those presents.

“Since when do  _you_  take care of  _me_?”

I felt guilty all over again. “I'm sorry.”

“Nico, you don't-”

I'd forgotten about the argument. I could only hear the echo of Thalia and Percy's  voices getting louder and matching the ones inside my head. And watching Percy come undone in front of me then, the words just tumbled out of my mouth. “It was stupid of me to go looking for the doors! If I'd just thought it through or told someone…”

“Nico…” He looked a hundred years old. Exhausted, concerned. “Nico it wasn't your fault...any of it...you being  _there_ …it shouldn't have happened.”

I felt very small then. I like to remind people how old I truly am all the time. Truth is: I've never stopped feeling ten and petrified.

“You were there alone.”

I was and, even though I knew they were probably looking for me, they didn't find me. What's more darkness to someone who is already made out of shadows? “I'm always alone, Percy. That wasn't going to change in Tartarus.”

“I'm the one that's sorry. You didn't deserve that. _I_  did.” I wanted to tell him it wasn't true but he didn't let me. “When I got there they were all waiting for me. I killed them all without thinking twice about it.”

“You had to, Percy! We all do-”

“I know it's what I am. But not you. Not Annabeth. You're different.”

“No we're not! What are you talking about?!”

He chuckled and it was so cold. “It's all I've ever been good at. They know it.” He pointed a trembling finger at the sky. “They know what I did down there. They crave that power... _I_ crave that power.”

I looked at the cracks he'd made on the ground to avoid his eyes and allowed myself to wonder how far he'd gone if I didn't step in between him and Thalia. He'd been down there longer. I know that if I had, I would've crossed that line, the line I've been avoiding since Bianca died. What choice did he have down there but to let himself break.

What does that make him now?

“No.” He was right. I didn't deserve Tartarus. Neither did Annabeth. Neither did he. “You're scared of what you can do; you're aware of the hurt it can cause,” I told him. he wasn't consumed by it. He rejected it. “You're still the hero I met when I was ten. That's why I'll always fight beside  _you_ , Percy. It was never about the gods.”

Thunder rumbled above us, but he didn't jump.

***********

At first I think it's Percy who's entered my cabin, then I distinguish the lighter tread and decide it's Thalia. We haven't properly talked since she came to camp, not like I've wanted to anyways. She's been putting that off.

“Hey,” she peers over my shoulder to look at the plans I'm currently working on, “what you've got there?”

“Just some sketches for the cabin expansions.”

She doesn't seem that interested. “Nico wants us to talk,” she tells me. Thalia's always been terrible at small talk.

“What about?”

“What are we training for Annabeth?” I put my pencil down and turn to face her. Her eyes are nervously scanning my face for answers. “Chiron made up some bullshit about wanting us to learn to manage our powers better but it's the opposite of it! It's like he wants to see-”

“-exactly how powerful you really are?”

“Yeah.”

I knew better than to believe what Percy told me. He didn't buy it either. None of us did. I also know that if Chiron approved he would've told a better lie. “I don't think this was Chiron's idea.”

“I know. Artemis seemed too relaxed about it.”

“Have you talked to her recently?

“She never stopped communicating with us but not face to face, no.”

“I saw Dionysus a few days ago talking to Chiron...Chiron didn't look very happy.” I add.

“That'd be the first god to show up in a while.” She'd probably been thinking of this since her first meeting with Chiron. A million thoughts seem to be racing through her head. “Chiron didn't seem like himself at any of the meetings we've had. Like you said, he never looked quite happy about what he was asking me to do. I figured I could wait and see how it panned out in training before coming to any conclusions but today…” Her eyes widen. She's said too much.

Something happened, something she doesn't want me to know about. “Why did Nico send you to talk to me?” She opens her mouth but can't seem to articulate whatever excuse she was going to tell me. I hold her eyes. Everyone always tells me my stares can be pretty intimidating. I learned from the best. Thalia made a pretty intimidating twelve-year-old. “Thalia.”

“Percy and I-”

“Don't tell me you were fighting again?” Percy told me what's happened afte Jason passed out the other day.

She looks away. “I guess it got a little out of hand-”

“You two are so childish! Why can't you just-”

“Annabeth!” It's been awhile since she raised her voice to me. It's the twinge of panic that keeps my mouth shut. She pinches the bridge of her nose. “I...I pushed too far. He got so worked up and...I don't know why I fed into it.”

She doesn't have to say more. “Where is he?”

“I left him with Nico.” I immediately stand up but she catches my arm. “I think he's the best person he can talk to at the moment.” I try to shake her off but her grasp is like steel. “It's not him you should talk to right now, Beth.”

I want to go to Percy. I want to be alone with him and rub the space between his eyebrows because he scrunches it up so hard when he's worried. I want us to drift into our peaceful bubble where only the two of us exist and we can pretend we’ve stopped hurting. I don't want to find out the gods’ new scheme, the Fates’ new wretched turn to our already messed up life.

But I don't run to Percy like I want to. Instead I march towards the Big House, the remnants of Thalia’s steel grip still pressing against my arm.

 

 

Dionysus is here. He's sitting beside Chiron, who's in his wheelchair, out on the porch. Something like relief crosses Chiron’s face as I stomp up the steps. “Anniebell!” At this point Dionysus just does it to get under our skin. “So glad to see your cheerful face as always!”

“What are you playing at?!” I growl.

His ironic cheer melts off his face right away, the usual discontent replaces it.

“Perhaps it'd be best if we took this inside.” I want to tell Chiron that I don't care who hears me, but his eyes dart quickly to the right and I notice Harley. He's dragging parts for the beacon he's built for Leo back to his cabin but has stopped to check out what's going on. His eyes dart to Dionysus then to me.

I shoot Harley a quick smile then turn back to Chiron. “Fine.” They both follow me inside into the living room where the fireplace is already lit even though it's probably 8 AM and close to ninety degrees outside. I wait until I can't see Harley through the window to speak again. I meet Dionysus’ purplish eyes. “What have they sent you here for?”

“Typical of demigods! First they're begging us to talk to them and when we finally show up  _this_  is what we have to face?” He huffs indignantly. “You always thought so highly of yourself Annalyse-”

“You  _know_  that's not my name.” I want Chiron to speak up but he just stares sadly at the flames. “And I know Zeus sent you to check in on the training sessions.” He's listening to me now. I walk up to him so that our noses are almost touching. “What's. Your. Game?”

“I don't have to inform some  _mortal girl_  on the business of Lord Zeus.”

I grab him by the cuffs of his stupid grey suit. “Annabeth that's enough!” I whip my head towards Chiron, hot bile churning in my stomach. He's stepping in for  _him?_  “Annabeth.” I know what that tone means. I let go of Dionysus.

I stand fuming while the wine god pats the wrinkles out of his suit. I try to search Chiron’s face for an answer but it's like stone. For the first time since I've known Chiron, I can't read his expression. He's never shut me off, and it scares me more than anything Thalia told me earlier. Instead he turns to Dionysus and I have to stand there feeling how I assume everyone else always feels when Chiron and I have a silent conversation.

“They deserve to know,” he finally says.

To my surprise, Dionysus doesn't object. “He's gonna make me stay another millennia here, you  _do_  know that? Right?” Chiron stays silent, looking at him expectantly. “Look kid,” he finally starts, looking up at the ceiling with a pained expression, “Zeus  _really_  screwed up, okay?” He winces as the sky rumbles. Before, I would've worried about us being blown to bits. Now, I don't even look up. “With the Titans, and the Giants...he's let his ego get in the way-”

“I already know all of this. Get to the point.”

Annoyance etches his face but he doesn't stop. “Maybe the most recent war made him see things more clearly. Maybe he didn't like his Queen doing what she pleased with his heroes. Either way, he did some digging around of his own after the whole Gaea incident. The Titans AND the Giants rising so close to each other...it seemed almost-”

“-orchestrated.” A heavy stone of dread finally settles in my chest. I'm almost relieved. Of course the idea had entered my mind. I don't believe in coincidence and after defeating Gaea so easily I knew she couldn't have been behind it all. “Who-”

Dionysus shakes his head. I know he's already said too much but I want to press him for more. I  _need_  to know. But he holds his hand up before I can say anything. “Zeus wants to be prepared this time around. He's ah ‘sharpening his best weapons’, one could say.” There's a slight undertone of disgust as he says the last part, never looking away from me. “We can't know for certain what role each will have due to our lack of Oracle, I'm afraid, but surely that'll be fixed soon enough. In the meantime we can make sure no potential is being wasted.” I cling to his words, taking in the double-meaning behind them. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment to be blast to bits.”

He vanishes before I can ask anything else.

Chiron reaches to touch my hand but I pull away. I can see the hurt in his eyes but I don't care. “Annabeth, you have to understand…”

“Understand  _what_  exactly? You could've warned us! Told us sooner!”

“You know I don't have much choice-”

“You couldn't stick up for us...for  _me_?” I can tell my words are killing him, but I mean them too much to keep them quiet. It's barely been a couple of weeks. He knows, more than anyone, how much we need the time.

“I tried...Annabeth these are  _the gods_  we're talking about. What could've I've done?”

“Anything! Everything you could and then more because it's what  _we've_  have to do!”

His old, tired eyes are glassy with tears. He has always protected me, when everyone forgot he always remembered I was a kid. I can't count the times I've bawled into his chest or sought a comforting word and found it. I want to do that now, but we both know what he's trying to tell me. He lets me in just a crack and I finally understand.

We're going to war again.

“I'm sorry.”

********

I watch everyone’s face fall as Annabeth tells us what Dionysus revealed. We're all  seated inside cabin 13 except Annabeth who is standing up. Jason and Piper are seated on my bed, Thalia and Percy on Nico’s. Nico himself is sitting beside me on our small couch.

“He mentioned the Oracle. Something about restoring it somehow,” Annabeth continues. She seems to be talking more to herself than anyone of us in particular, too immersed in the millions of possibilities that are probably racing through her head. “If the gods are all meeting as we speak they're probably looking for someone to pin the blame on-”

“Wait,” Jason interrupts, “but didn't you say my dad admitted to messing up? Why pin it on someone else?”

“Zeus would never admit he made a mistake,” answers Percy. For someone who knows the power of names he sure doesn't mind throwing them around. “He’ll have to punish someone to cover up. It won't be a mortal. It was too big and too close to the Titan War. Didn't you see him in the Acropolis?” They all remembered the Lord of the Sky snapping at a couple of the Olympians after the fight.

“It all comes down to the prophecies,” Annabeth insists, beginning to pace now. “The biggest excuse for the gods not to intervene isn't their laws. They won't meddle with prophecies, especially ones that say hand picked heroes get to fight for them.”

“So what?” Thalia interjects. “They won't do anything to stop whoever set all of this in motion until they've got a prophecy?”

Annabeth shakes her head. “Only a god can restore The Oracle. They'll have to. Plus, we can't do it for them unless we  _have_  a prophecy! Which is how their messes are usually cleared up.”

“Gods don't meddle, you said so yourself,” argues Thalia. “If they supposedly did nothing wrong to begin with, why would they try to fix it?”

“Not  _them_ ,” I can tell Percy has been following his own train of thought, “whoever they end up blaming, whoever they punish. They'll separate themselves that way and send whoever they decided messed up.”

Annabeth stops pacing and looks at Percy. They exchange a look, and suddenly I realize what Percy might be implying. They'll never fight alongside us as immortals...but immortality can be taken away.

I don't know if everyone thinks what I do, but we all go quiet. Before, we would've been jolted awake by such critical information, but we're all so palpably tired now. I turn to look at my brother, whose eye bags have become almost permanent under his eyes. Aboard the Argo II we all seemed so much more energized. I realize now that those were our ‘imminent danger, scared-out-of-our-minds’ selves. We were pushing so hard because we could see the finish line; we were tired then too, but we could handle it because we knew it was almost over. Now they're telling us it's barely even begun? None of us are eager to jump into action.

Before we would've gone to work, now we simply drift apart, a silent agreement passing between us all to do nothing until absolutely necessary. Piper tugs at Jason’s arm, whispering a quick  _bye_  to the others. She's barely had time to properly mourn her best friend. Thalia follows her brother out the door. Annabeth and Percy are the last to leave, their fingers loosely locked together. Nico and I watch them all go.

“I should probably send word to Frank,” I say after a while.

Nico doesn't take his eyes away from the door. “You leaving already? I could shadow travel you back to Camp Jupiter if you want.”

In light of recent events I'm not too keen on air travel. For the first time I allow myself to feel hatred towards Jupiter and all the Olympians, but force it right down almost immediately.  _It's not good for us to hold grudges,_  Nico once told me,  _it's our fatal flaw_. “No, it's okay. I'll ask Frank to send a veteran.”

“It'll be okay.” Nico finally turns to look at me. Somehow that doesn't sound as reassuring coming from the boy that lies awake at night haunted by nightmares. “Whatever happens, we'll get through it. We've done it before.”

“Not all of us made it.” I think of Leo and it becomes much harder to keep my anger down. I wait for Nico to try to reassure me again, but he's always been too honest. He can't promise me that.

He stays silent and goes back to staring at the door. After a while I decide I can't put off calling Frank much longer and head towards the volleyball court where they keep a hose. I look back at my brother as I'm closing the door behind me. “Nico,” he stares up at me, “we’ll be fine.” He nods and tries to offer me a smile but it comes out more like a grimace. I turn around and close the door behind me.

It's not that sunny today. Hopefully it's enough to get a decent rainbow going. I could ask Chiron for one of the few cellphones but I doubt Frank is close to one at Camp and I want to see his face. I'm almost to the forge when I hear Will coming out of the pegasus stables. “Hey Hazel!” He catches up to me, all smiles. “Did your training session get extended or something? Percy was suppose to check on the mare-”

“Yeah,” I lie, “Thalia got a little excited.” I briefly remember Percy telling us about a pregnant pegasus he and Will have been taking care of. I've been dying to meet her since he mentioned it at the picnic. “Maybe I could help.”

Will’s face lights up, almost literally. Nico is right, he looks like the improved version of Octavian. I didn't really get sun god vibes from him, but Will almost embodies sunshine. “Yeah of course! After seeing you ride Arion I don't think she’ll be any trouble at all!”

I follow him to the stables and make a silent promise to get in touch with Frank later in the day. “How far along is she?”

“Oh she's almost there!”  He pulls out a giant glove as I enter a section that seems more spacious and my eyes widen. I didn't realize it was  _that_  kind of check up. “Don't panic on me now, Levesque. I just need you to calm her down. I have Percy help me since he can talk to her.” He pulls out a stool and sits behind the grey mare grazing in the corner. My nerves melt away the second I set eyes on her. Her wings are so silky that they almost look like silver, her big brown eyes scan me nervously.

“It's okay,” I reassure her, slowly walking towards her and softly placing my hand between her eyes. I try to not pay any attention to whatever Will’s doing and find myself chatting nonsensically with the mare. “What's her name?”

“Misty.”

I tell Misty about the strawberry fields, and babble about the unicorns back in Camp Jupiter until Will is finished. I don't know how much time passes but I'm grateful for the distraction. I pat Misty one last time and follow Will outside. I don't even realize I'm hungry until my stomach growls. I haven't really had time to eat anything, nor have I felt inclined to until now. “C’mon, I'll buy you something from the Camp store.” I try to decline but Will waves me away until I gratefully accept.

He buys me a muffin and gets a sandwich for himself, then we make our way to the Hearth where a small, mousy girl is tending to the flames. I smile at her and she looks at me curiously before smiling back and placing a small finger to her lips. “Thanks,” I tell Will as he sit beside me, “I needed that.”

“Don't mention it.”

We eat in silence. I watch as Will waves to everyone and how they all wave back, unable to not mirror Will’s smile. I stare at the door to my cabin and will Nico to come out. I imagine his gloomy, tired face breaking into a grin when he sees us, and him walking towards us and chatting away. But the door stays closed. “Hey,” I know I'll pay for this later but I go on anyways, “do you mind checking in on my brother?”

Will swallows the last of his sandwich before asking: “Is something wrong?” When I don't answer his gaze momentarily shifts to the angry scrape on my arm.

“He's just in a mood.”

He looks skeptical but nods anyways. I guess he has enough experience with us all and knows better than to push it. He calls a small _later_  over his shoulder as he walks towards cabin 13 and I feel a little lighter. I'm glad Nico now has Will. He's good for him.

Now all I want to do is talk to Frank.

*******

Thalia sits beside me at the base of the Zeus statue inside cabin 1. Piper wanted to stay with me but a fire erupted inside the Aphrodite cabin (something about too many hair straighteners being plugged in) and she had to rush there before actual people were set on fire (again). Thalia's old things are still in the corner. I wonder if my father would get mad if I asked Annabeth to remodel the place, make it feel less like an ominous temple. I turn to ask Thalia what she thinks about it and realize she's crying.

“Gods, Thalia…” I awkwardly put my arm around her. “It'll be fine-” I stop abruptly when I notice that what I thought were sobs shaking her body, is actually a laugh she's failing to contain. Maybe she's finally losing it. She catches a glimpse of whatever face I'm making and properly starts laughing. It sounds insane and it's starting to make the corners of my mouth twitch. “Stop it, you sound crazy.”

She manages to tone it down to a few chuckles and wipes her eyes, smudging her mascara so she looks like a blue-eyed, tiara-wearing raccoon. “Aw man,” she exclaims, “Dad sure outdoes himself, doesn't he?” There isn't much humor left in her voice. “Although I must admit it  _did_  warm my heart to know he considers me one of his greatest weapons-”

_“Thalia.”_

“-every child's dream, truly.” I look up to the statue above us nervously. “Oh don't worry, J. Daddy knows better than to wreck his precious toys.”

“Thalia c’mon.”

“Sometimes I wish he'd let me die all those years ago, y'know. I would've had a hero's death and be done with it-”

“Don't say that.” I take her hand and she meets my eyes. I understand what she's feeling because I'm pretty angry myself. But, unlike her, our father has pretty much ignored me my whole life. I don't know him enough to feel the betrayal I know she probably feels. “It'll be okay.” It sounds lame even to me but she smiles anyways.

“I don't think it's ever been okay, but…” She shrugs. Just like that she's pulling herself together again. It scares me to see her so undone but I also realize how much she must trust me to lose control like that in front of me. “...we've never had much of a choice.”

“They don't control us, Thalia. As much as they want to, they can't.”

“That doesn't sound very Roman of you.”

I'm feeling pretty un-Roman, yes. “So we’re caught in a war again?! I won't fight because he-” I point at the statue- “needs saving! I don't really care much for making him proud at the moment.” Once again I glance nervously at the huge marble Zeus and adjust my glasses which, in my flurry, started to slide down my nose. I don't know where that came from. I guess I've finally hit my rebellious, teenage streak.

Thalia looks amused. She's smirking, so that can't be good. “You really are my brother, aren't you?” Maybe she wasn't amused, maybe she was...proud? “And yeah, you're right. I won't be fighting for him. I don't know what difference it'll make when the time comes, but I at least want him to know  _that._ ” She pulls me into a headlock and starts messing up my hair. She really liked doing that. “I love you, little brother.”

*******

I jump when the door creaks open. I'm surprised to find Will’s face poking in, “Can I come in?”

I don't really feel like talking but I find myself muttering  _sure_  anyways. He joins me on the floor (the couch was too comfortable for my liking), resting his weight on his elbows and spreading out his long legs in front of him. “So Hazel’s worried about you.”

“Did she send you?”

“Yep.”

“Figures.”

I can feel him searching my face for any hint as to what happened. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No!” I don't mean to raise my voice. I turn to apologize but he shakes his head.

“It's okay.”

I uncross my legs and mirror his pose so our arms are touching. I can feel his bare bicep against my shoulder. “Hazel helped me out with Misty,” he tells me, “she did a great job. I didn't get kicked once!” He shifts his weight to his left arm so he can bring his hand up to place a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I predict we’ll have a healthy, male baby pegasus this time next week.” He grabs my chin with his long archer’s fingers and tries to nudge my head towards him but I don't buck because...well because I'm stubborn, okay? Instead he places a kiss to my cheek and keeps on babbling. “I don't think Porkpie and Blackjack will be too happy about having another, cuter, smaller pegasus around. They're always fighting over Misty and now they'll always lose to him.”

The sides of my mouth twitch slightly and I can see a triumphant smile spread across his face. Still, he soldiers on. “But maybe once he's born we’ll finally figure out who the father actually  _is!_  I know Percy's got his money on Blackjack but that seems like favoritism to me, Porkpie can be quite charming-”

He stops abruptly as I let out a chuckle. “Okay,” I tell him, “you win! Just please stop.”

He laughs, and in a fit of bravery rushes in and kisses me. We both stare wide-eyed at the other as he pulls away. I brush my lips with my finger, convinced they can't possibly be the same after being pressed against Will Solace’s mouth. My first kiss.

“Oh Gods! Nico, I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” I whisper, my fingers still on my lips.

“I'll leave!”

“No!” I'm shaken out of my daze as he stands up. I reach for him and catch his wrist, and  _gods_  I'm blushing so hard. “Stay,” I clear my throat which has suddenly gone very dry. “I mean, only if you want to.”

He looks petrified but eventually nods and sits back down next to me, both our backs against the foot of Hazel’s bed. I don't notice I'm still holding his wrist until I  realize that the loud thumping I feel beneath my fingers is his racing heartbeat. In my own moment of bravery I intertwine my fingers with his.

It's easy to forget what Annabeth told us when I'm willing my palms not to sweat and when my lips can't stop tingling.

**********

We should've left Percy's cabin a while ago. I'm pretty sure he just missed his sword fighting class and Malcolm must be waiting by the climbing wall for me, but neither one of us moves from his bed. It's only a couple degrees cooler inside the cabin and the combination of summer weather and the heat from Percy's body against mine is making me drowsy. I trace circles on his chest absentminded until he catches my hand. “If you keep doing that I'm definitely going to fall asleep.”

I stop. “Sorry.”

“S’okay.”

I sigh and will my entire body to disentangle itself from Percy. He catches my arm as my feet touch the floor. “We can't just stay here,” I tell him, “they're probably already looking for us.”

He groans and hugs me from behind, placing a small kiss on my neck then burrowing his face on my shoulder. “If  _they_  wanted to find us, they'd know where to look. Let's just stay here a little while.”

It's tempting, so tempting to just stay here inside our bubble and ignore everything else. “We can't. Percy…”

“What?”

“We can't just act like what  _just_  happened didn't happen.”

“Why not?”

I turn so I can properly glare at him. “Why?! This changes everything!”

“No, it doesn't.” I want to argue. I want him to be annoyed by me and roll his eyes at what I have to say. I want to yell and have him yell back. But all my anger melts away when he tucks a strand of loose hair behind my ear. “We’re still graduating. We're still going to college. You're still going to design a whole city for our camp.” I only told him a few days ago about my ideas for New Athens. “Our plans are still there, Annabeth.”

“They won't ever leave us alone.”

He pulls me closer to him. I could almost count all the different shades of greens and blues in his eyes.  _“They_ don't matter.” He kisses me, first on the lips then down my jaw, all the way to my collarbone. It's hard to to focus on the bleak aspects of life when you can feel Percy Jackson’s warm breath against your chest. He pulls me back down into the bed so we're facing each other. After a while he says: “You're staring at me.” I am. He's taking this whole mess too well, his features look completely calm.“Stooop,” he whines.

“Are you blushing?”

“What? No,” he totally is, “it's just really hot in here.”

I laugh at the duality of Percy Jackson. One second he's peppering you with kisses, the next he's embarrassed if you stare too long at his face. I'm so happy in this moment it's scary. He probably notices the shift in my eyes and his smile melts away. Why is he so calm about this? We seemed to be on the same page as me a while ago in Nico’s cabin. Thalia even mentioned they fought earlier!

He presses him forehead against mine. “Stop thinking.”

But I can't. All I can think about are Chiron’s sad eyes as he said  _sorry_  and the million possible enemies we’ll have to face and how I just can't anymore. “I can't.”

His lips are against my ear now. “I know, Annabeth. I hate it too. But I'm not giving up now.”

I turn around and kiss him again. I kiss him because just now he sounded terrified, because he's probably been freaking out about this since Thalia showed up and he hasn't let it ruin a single moment with me. I kiss him because I wish I wasn't so powerless and actually had a say in my own life. And he kisses me back because he feels it too.

“Hey,” he says after a while, breaking away from the kiss, suddenly looking nervous, “I have to tell you something. It's not bad,” he adds quickly. Slowly his smile comes back and he looks straight at me and we're both twelve and jittery again. “My mom’s-” he lets out a shaky, embarrassed laugh as tears pool in his eyes- “she's pregnant Annabeth!”

All my drowsiness melts away immediately. I sit up and start saying something but falter and all that comes out is something between a shriek and a gasp. And I'm crying and so is he, but we're also laughing and if someone were to walk in on us now we’d probably look insane.

I look back at him once again, and it hits me. I rush forwards and take his face in my hands, searching. I search the bags beneath his eyes and the brand new sun freckles above his nose. I search in the one slightly crooked front tooth as he gapes at me in confusion through his tears, and in the spot on his left eyebrow that always looks messy.

I search and search, but I never find it. And maybe that darkness comes back when Thalia pushes too hard, or in the middle of the night when we realize our nightmares are actually memories. Or when we realize that the wars will never stop.

But right now Percy’s going to be an older brother again.

Right now, we're nothing but light.


	2. Epilogue

It took Percy Jackson two hours to convince the cops not to tow his car (with heavy help from a few tricks Hazel had taught him on how to control The Mist) and another hour to wedge the Prius out from the two trees he'd swerved into, all while being slowed down by his constant sneezing. He finally caught his breath as he rested his hands on his knees and admired his handy work. Both car doors were heavily scratched and the one on the driver’s side had a dent from where Percy banged it against the tree trunk as he tried to open it, he'd also busted a headlight and the mirror that'd been on Meg’s side lay pathetically on the floor. Yeah, he was definitely grounded. He checked his watch even though the dark sky already let him know he was very late indeed. With a sigh he opened the door and sat behind the wheel. His head had started to throb and he let out final sneeze before he put the keys in the ignition and attempted to start the car. “C’mon,” he grumbled, placing his forehead against the wheel as he turned the keys a second time. It took him another two tries but he finally managed to start the car.

As he drove back to his apartment, stuck in traffic and painfully congested, he tried to convince himself that he's denial to get involved in whatever trouble Apollo was going to cause was going to hold up. It wasn't working. For the first time in seven months he allowed himself to think about what Annabeth had told them inside Nico’s cabin. The Oracle. An enemy so strong they'd coordinated the last two wars.

He thought he'd have more time.

When he finally made it to the apartment it was almost midnight. The combination of his head cold and the guilt at making his extremely pregnant mother worry were enough to make him hesitate at the door, but he finally turned the key and pushed his way into the dimly lit apartment.

Sally Jackson was wearing the same tye-dye dress she'd wore earlier in the day when she prepared snacks for Apollo and Meg McCaffrey, Paul was sitting beside her in the kitchen.

“Mom, I'm so-” he was interrupted mid-way by a sneeze followed by a groan.

“Oh Percy! What happened now?” In a second she was right beside him guiding him into an armchair and heating up the kettle. Before he could explain further he was wrapped in a blanket, a warm mug of tea in his hands.

“It's fine, Mom. It's just a cold.” She didn't look any less worried, making Percy's guilt flash back. “I'm sorry. I was in a field and there wasn't any signal. Plus, I couldn't even get to my phone because these dumb cops-”

Paul raised a hand and stopped him right there. “What about the cops? Percy, did you get arrested?”

“What? No! They just wanted to tow the car.”

Sally brought her hand to her hip in a very motherly way. “Perseus Jackson you'd better not have crashed that car!”

Percy winced as he remembered the scratches on the door. He looked towards Paul but thankfully he seemed more concerned about his stepson and Sally getting worked up than whatever damage was done to his vehicle. “Cut him some slack, Sal. Clearly, it wasn't his fault.”

Sally sighed and slumped back down onto the chair she'd been sitting on before. “I know, I know. I'm sorry. I was just so  _worried,_  Percy!”

“I know. I'm sorry, Mom. Things just got out of control.” She went back to looking worried. Her son had inherited her habit of knitting her eyebrows together when they worried. “But I dropped them off now. It's okay.” Even though he didn't know for sure it wasn't true, Percy still felt like he was lying. And he hated lying to his Mom, but she'd already stayed up so long and she looked exhausted. “Let's just all go to bed, okay?”

She looked at her son and then at Paul, finally surrendering and nodding as she absentmindedly rubbed her swollen belly. Before she went to her room she kissed Percy on his temple and placed the back of her hand against his forehead. He rolled his eyes and once again reassured her he'd be fine. He didn't pull away when she hugged him tightly to her though, after being away from her for almost a year he didn't mind her fussing over him.

He said goodnight to Paul and his stepfather patted his shoulder, following his wife down the hall to their bedroom.

Once they were gone Percy stayed on the armchair and finished his tea, debating whether or not he should try to Iris Message Annabeth and if she'd even answer. He finally got up and rinsed his mug at the sink with one hand and held the blanket atop his shoulders in place with the other. He groggily made his way to his bedroom and practically fell face first onto his mattress, groaning as the pounding in his head increased. Maybe calling Annabeth could wait until the next morning.

He was just starting to fall asleep when his phone buzzed in his pocket ( _now_  it decided to work?). It was only for emergencies which meant very few people had his number and most of them could've easily Iris Messaged him. He reached into his jeans and pulled it out, squinting at the brightness. It was Annabeth. He propped himself on his elbow and picked up. “Hey. I almost Iris Messaged you just now. What's up?”

“Sorry! Did I wake you up?”

“No, I  _just_  got here actually.”

He could hear her pause at the other end of the line. “How come? Why do you sound weird?”

“I got a cold.” Another sneeze overtook him to further confirm his statement. “Oh and...Apollo came by.”

“The  _god_  Apollo? What? He hasn't been seen for months?” They both had had their suspicions as to why. Now, Apollo had confirmed it for Percy. Zeus had finally chosen who to blame.

“Yeah, well he's mortal now apparently. We're the same clothe size.” Percy could almost see her pinching the bridge of her nose and starting to pace inside whatever Boston hotel she was staying at. “Any luck with your cousin?”

She sighed and let out a stressed out little laugh. “Oh yeah he's fine. He died, but he's taking it rather well, all things considered.”

_“What?!”_  Percy silently cursed and peered out his door to make sure he hadn't woken up his parents. “What do you  _mean_  died?” He shout-whispered into the phone.

“It's okay he was resurrected in Valhalla!” Annabeth sounded like she knew she was crazy and had made her peace with it.

“Man, crazy day huh?”

She laughed, properly now. “Yeah! What's new?”

They both stayed quiet for a little while, neither one eager to break the silence because they knew what came next. Percy was eager to get inside his bed and take a ten hour nap, but he knew he wouldn't sleep much that night. “When are you coming back?” They couldn't slack off on their training now. Percy almost missed his worry towards the SAT that morning.

“Tomorrow.”

She sounded quite crestfallen but he knew it wasn't about leaving Boston. “Hey,” he tried, his throat was getting sore, “we won't get involved until it's totally necessary, right? They might not even need us.”

One could still hope.

There was some static ruffling from her side of the line and then a deep sigh. “Right. Okay. See you soon.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love  _you_.”


End file.
